A system for exchanging GPS or other position data between wireless devices for purposes of group activities, child location monitoring, work group coordination, dispatching of employees etc. Cell phones and other wireless devices with GPS receivers have loaded therein a Buddy Watch application and a TalkControl application. The Buddy Watch application communicates with the GPS receiver and other wireless devices operated by buddies registered in the users phone as part of buddy groups or individually. GPS position data and historical GPS position data can be exchanged between cell phones of buddies and instant buddies such as tow truck drivers via a buddy watch server. Emergency monitoring services can be set up with notifications to programmable individuals in case an individual does not respond. Positions and tracks can be displayed. TalkControl simplifies and automates the process of joining talk groups for walkie talkie services such as that provided by Nextel.

A communications system for general business environments that exploits knowledge of user state to provide advantages of efficiency and control for individual users and for the business. The communications system also provides particular advantages in environments where users have multiple communication devices and for communications of a business with external parties. In other aspects, the communication system provides features of application flexibility and system fault-tolerance with broad applicability to communication systems. The communication system includes a controller that receives requests for establishing communications when a user is in an appropriate state to receive communications and communicates state of the user to other users. The controller receives a user request for establishing a communication when the user is not in the appropriate state for communication, receives a user request for a state change to the appropriate state to receive the communication, and initiates the communication without changing state of the user.

The present invention discloses a mobile terminal control method, including: receiving a communication request sent by a communication request initiating party, and calculating a time interval between a time when the communication request is received and a time when a previous communication request from the communication request initiating party is received; and if the time interval is greater than a preset threshold, skipping generating a vibrating and/or ringtone alert for the communication request, and detecting an online status of a communications software account associated with the communication request initiating party and sending prompt information to an online communications software account, where the prompt information is used to indicate that a mobile terminal is in a Do Not Disturb mode.

System and methods for providing calling party information are disclosed. In one implementation, a server for providing calling party information includes one or more processors configured to receive a query for calling party information from a carrier. The query includes an identifier associated with the calling party. The processors are further configured to determine a score based on one or more previously obtained queries, generate the calling party information based on the score, and transmit the calling party information to the carrier. The carrier transmits the calling party information to a device associated with the called party as a Caller ID Name (CNAM).

A method and apparatus for screening access to personal contact information in an electronic or telephonic database is provided. The embodiments include a querying party generating a query signal to obtain personal contact information. The query signal is received by a bridge website server and the bridge website server sends a query notification signal to a listing party so as to inform him or her of the existence of a query for personal contact information and the identity of the querying party. The listing party generates a consent/no-consent signal that is sent to the bridge website server, wherein the consent/no-consent signal indicates the personal contact information that is to be revealed to the querying party. A personal contact information signal is then generated by the server, wherein the personal contact information signal provides the querying party the revealed personal contact information of the listing party.

A user equipment configured to receive a user input associated with a phone number is described herein. The phone number may be associated with a party the user is intending to call or message. The user equipment and an associated network may determine a personal identifier, such as an individual or entity name, associated with the phone number regardless of whether or not the phone number is included in a phone book or address book associated with the user. The user equipment may also present or display the personal identifier to the user prior to connecting the call or sending the message.

A system for exchanging GPS or other position data between wireless devices for purposes of group activities, child location monitoring, work group coordination, dispatching of employees etc. Cell phones and other wireless devices with GPS receivers have loaded therein a Buddy Watch application and a TalkControl application. The Buddy Watch application communicates with the GPS receiver and other wireless devices operated by buddies registered in the users phone as part of buddy groups or individually. GPS position data and historical GPS position data can be exchanged between cell phones of buddies and instant buddies such as tow truck drivers via a buddy watch server. Emergency monitoring services can be set up with notifications to programmable individuals in case an individual does not respond. Positions and tracks can be displayed. TalkControl simplifies and automates the process of joining talk groups for walkie talkie services such as that provided by Nextel.

An availability-based telephonic transmission/reception calling service method is provided for communicating with a person who has a different lifestyle or who may not be available at a specific call time. When a receiver inputs the receiver's characteristic information and reception/communication availability information into a server, the server acquires and sets the reception/communication availability information. An originator fetches contact information in a memory medium within a device or contact information to be displayed in a separate service on the Internet and selects a receiver. When the contact information of the selected receiver is stored on the server, the server acquires the receiver's reception/communication availability information and displays whether the receiver can receive a call on a screen of an originator's communication device. Thus, the originator can be notified of whether a receiver can receive a call before the originator makes a telephone call via a cellular phone network or the Internet.

A system for publishing digital content is described which, in one embodiment, includes a beacon device associated with a first user configured to transmit identification information and information indicating its current position. A browsing device includes a display configured and adapted to display to a second user a representation of a local geographical area, and to selectively display to the second user content information associated with the first user, based at least in part on whether the location of the beacon device is within the local geographical area.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for implementing a spoofed telephone call identifier are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving, by a first computing device, data indicating a placement of a telephone call from a second computing device to a third computing device, wherein the data includes a phone number of the second computing device. The actions further include determining characteristics of the phone number of the second computing device. The actions further include, based on the characteristics of the phone number of the second computing device, determining a likelihood that the phone number of the second computing device is spoofed. The actions further include, based on the likelihood that the phone number of the second computing device is spoofed, determining whether to transmit a notification of the telephone call to the third computing device.